On the MS flights
Our flight remains valid on MS site, except now it goes to LXR first for a 30 min stop. No way it is a pit stop on long haul flight, so the speculation is they need to ferry some passengers to Luxor first. Could be due to the 100 anniversary activities in November. I believe I mentioned that we booked all MS flights using UA miles. Misr is not involved. I can cancel this flight and book the early morning flight if I want. But we would not take such ungodly departure time.
The LXR-CAI flight also has departure time change by 10 min. UA site again requires an Acceptance on the change. Because the flight was booked before Winter schedule is published, departure time changes are very common. Though even just a few minutes change, airlines would require you to accept the change to keep the booking. Since both UA and MS are in sync on the details of our flights (3 in total), I know everything is fine as of this moment. Of course it will still be an ongoing monitoring until we actually take the flights! I generally would pull up the bookings on both the ticketing airline and the operating airline (partner) sites once every 2 weeks up to a month before departure. Then I check the status much more frequently in the last 30 days before departure to avoid nasty surprises that I have seen so many naive passengers have faced when they find out the changes too late or too close to departure. Somehow many people have the Wrong notion that once they purchased the tickets especially months ahead, their flights would remain the same until their departures. I dont know How people got such idea but that is often one of the biggest frustrations among the Uneducated / Uninitiated passengers.
A bit extra info on flight changes - UA has a better design, that is it would revalidate the award tickets on partner flights if the changes are only departure time (and within an unspecified time limit), plus it can be done online. Routing changes almost always require calling, and reissuance of tickets. You better make sure the tickets are properly reissued, and the partner sites show the now refreshed routing... Too many sobering stories that I would not write here.
AA would require a Reissue of Tickets on partner flights for any changes - had this happened many times before Pandemic on CX flights - your booking simply Vanishes, with a red color message atop, instructed you to call AA. Then you endure the long hold to talk to an agent who then take care of the reissuance of tickets...
You will need to make sure at CAI check in about your checked bags if you have that, to make sure they do not unload them at ASW. Else you may find your bags beling left at ASW!
No bags (whether checked or carryon) can be left on the Plane at ABS per MS operation practice on the ASW-ABS-ASW segments. All bags must be unloaded from the plane when it stays at the tarmac of ABS for the returning flight 2 hours later.
For those who take the return flight back to ASW, their carryon bags can be left on the bus. As long as you fully understand this and accept it, I guess you will find a way to take care of your bags while you tour Aswan and arrive Abu Simbel.
On Nile Cruises
From what are asked and answered ever so often in the Nile Valley forum on which boats / which platforms used to book the Nile cruises, I get the impression that all providers are selling the SAME availability with only a very limited number of big providers who have contracted their boats, or even own a couple themselves. Those you see on Viator, TripAdvisor, whatever local OTAs, are all selling from the same total inventory.
Also, This Is Important To Know- that online booking does NOT guarantee you would get on the Particular boat you booked. During the past 2 years, in order to be able to sail the boat operators need to have certain number of passengers on the sailing, else the boat would not be allowed to sail (and also not profitable). Therefore they will consolidate passengers towards the boats departures. Some even said what boat you would eventually sail on, was a complete roulette type gamble because of such needed practice by the boat operators.
That is why you see the same direction boats tend to leave on the same Weekday. ASW-LXR is a 3 days trip while LXR-ASW is a 4 days trip. The 7 days are just making a U though it would make the on land sightseeing in a much leisurely pace. The boat we are booked on, has an itinerary shown online Different from Misr itinerary, but my rep reiterates Twice the itinerary shown in our tour is the one the boat will sail... Although there is always a clause on Nile Cruises that the itinerary may be different but all sights would be visited. This is true, they are all included just in different sequences.
During 2020 and most of 2021, you can walk up to the boats and negotiate the prices as you are there. I read on a Taiwanese site that last year a lady booked a boat at the dock with the captain after she toured a few boats, when she got to the dock the next day, she found out she was put on a different boat that she hadn't even toured the day before... May be 2022 the situation would be better, as in what you negotiate on site would be the samething you get the next day.
I have no idea what situation might be in 2022 high season which starts in Nov and is the 100 anniversary that has brought more visitors to Egypt, plus the Covid restrictions are completely lifted. Though I believe the part about what you book online MAY NOT be what you eventually get is still the case.
On up todate info at locations
There is a Scot currently stays at Luxor and posts a running thread for what is going on in Luxor town and along the Nile. They were there in June, and then returned in August. They seem to visit several times a year before Pandemic. I have seen his fickr pictures on the Night Show at Abu Simbel, as well as others pictures. Totally Unimpressed if that were what one would get. YMMV.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294205-i9426-k14071929-In_all_of_the_following_please_remember_It_s_Egypt-Luxor_Nile_River_Valley.html
Suggestion
If you have a TripAdvisor account, you can mark threads in the Travel Forum to a "trip" you named in your account. I do this when I quickly browse the forum a couple times a week, to gather information for upcoming reference, especially those threads with detailed / practical information. Before our actual trips I then do a summary type of word doc and just send it as an attachment to my email. Then I can refer back easily while on the trip. As an example, right now my TripAdvisor account has Jordan Trip, Egypt Trip, London Trip. (such as the Oyster / Travel Cap / Pay as You Go with contactless card, how the daily cap is determined, and whether it is safe to go to our hotel in town when leaving LHR on Piccadilly line / Victoria line at 10pm, versus stay at LHR hotel for the first night, logistic stuff).
Cairo Hotels
Our 2 nights at Mena House do not give us much of day time at the hotel. The first day we arrive Cairo after 4pm from Amman, IF MS is on time. Lepton's family flew an earlier flight during their trip last December. MS delayed for several hours due to heavy fog. Their morning flight did not depart until 1pm! I have monitored flight stats on FlightAware site on our 2:35pm flight's on time record. You can sign up an account for free, and can check prior 3 months of flight stats of a particular flight. During Summer the record is very good with only a couple delays each is below an hour. Who knows it may be when it goes into the cooler season? So for our first night at Mena House, I would consider ourselves Very Lucky if we can see the sunset view from hotel's ground!
The second day I called it Pyramid day - we need to go to the main ticket office at the Big Pyramids site to buy our Cairo Pass - just the Cairo sights you do not need to buy the pass, but buying one pass would give 50% discount for the second pass. We need this in order to get a 50% discount for the Luxor Premium Pass to bring the $200 pp down to $100. FYI, the Seiti I tomb costs 1000 EGP and the Queen Nefertari costs 1500 EGP (and only 10 min inside). The Premium Pass allows unlimited visit of Seiti, and once a day of Queen Nefertari. Passes are good for 5 consecutive days. You would barely breakeven on the Cairo Pass if you visit most Cairo sights incl Saqqara and Dahshur. Your savings will show once you get to Luxor.
After a quick go around on the plateau we will then head to Saqqara. I dont know if you have intention to visit there or even know its existence / current finds / new openings. Most people would do Dahshur, Memphis and Saqqara together. We have been in Dahshur and Memphis before, so we would spend most of our day at Saqqara which the site is fairly wide spread, with more and more tombs now open. If we still have time left we would drop by Dahshur to check out the newly opened entries into the Bent and Red Pyramid. No need for us to revisit Memphis but if you have never been, this should be incl in your Cairo stay.
By the time we finish seeing all the above, it would be late afternoon the earliest. Since Mena House is right in the area, there is no reason not to spend the 2nd night at Mena House.
Of course if you are like many people who use the group package, you can clam the Giza Pyramid, Museums, Cairo sightseeing, all in one single day. You will not be able to venture out to Dahshur or Saqqra. And if you do not intent to visit Saqqara / Dahshur, then yeah, Mena House for one night might work for you. We simply consider that kind of touring activities is a mad house, totally defeats the purpose to go this far to Egypt. Again, YMMV.
The following day, our 3rd day and 3rd night in Cairo, in the morning we would be picked up at Mena House to start our Cairo sightseeing (Museums, Coptic, Old Cairo / Islamic Cairo etc). On way towards City Center we would make a stop at the office of Dept of Antitiquity in Zamalek - the ONLY place in Cairo we can buy Luxor Pass. Else we would need to buy it at either Karnak or VOK. The boat arrives Karnak at late afternoon, highly likely it would miss the office hours of the main ticket office that handles the selling of Passes. Therefore upon discussion with Misr rep, he and I agree it would be better to try to buy the Luxor Pass at the Zamalek office before we start our Cairo sightseeing activities. After the day's sightseeing, we would be dropped off at Sheraton. The next day they will pick us up from Sheraton to the airport for our 1:45pm flight. Because both the transportation to / from Sheraton is handled by Misr, as well as our return from Luxor to Cairo hotel which is TBD, the inconvenience in transportation is largely mitigated because we dont need to worry about stuck in a Taxi or Uber or any of the pay services. Our driver must take care of us. 
If the morning flights are not departing at the Ungodly time at 5:30am and 6:15am but a more reasonable 8 to 9am, I would stay the night before at Le Meridien Cairo Airport. The hotel is connected to one terminal by a 2nd level walkway. You can walk to the terminal and then go to the other terminal from there. There is absolutely nothing around Le Meridien. BUT since our flight is not until after 1pm, staying in town center is a more desirable option.
Alas, getting up at 3:30am or 4:15m is NOT the way for us to travel. We prefer a more appropriate time for our body clocks even though we often waste a day on our travel day, i.e. move from one location to another. Since time and a bit additional expenses are not an issue, we prefer not to torture our bodies.
BTW, the Egypt Tailor Made, a relatively big Private Tour operator has offices at Pyramid and at Luxor, suggest the 1:45pm flight when I contacted them for their quotes on our itinenary. Their suggested tours are quite similar to Misr's with a bit less activities on the day arrive Aswan from the 1:45pm Cairo departure time.
Personally I have Zero desire to experience Cairo Marriott even before I learn about the bad parts. The hotel is so Antiquated - the Central Wing has not changed much since it was converted to a hotel in 1894. And it is where the lower rates rooms are located. The 2 towers were built in 1980's, never renovated. The reviews on TripAdvisors primarily are for the restaurants, not very many are from guests staying there. On Flyertalk, everyone said NOT to stay there, when your goal is to have a nice stay.
Finally, since you mentioned about previous flight cancellation caused beaucoup of troubles... I decided to write the following ...
On Flights in general as a friendly reminder to those who care to read this
First of all, one should ALWAYS monitor one's flights. Schedules do change - whether it is because the season changes, like in March you book a flight in Nov - the departure time is bound to change because the Winter schedule is not yet published; or weather and operational issues also could cause flight changes. Look at the flights from AMS and LHR since June, not to mention the chaos in US domestic hubs we have seen this Summer.
It cannot be emphasized enough that one must "garden" one's bookings, and have Plan B, C etc in case flights got delayed / canceled, what would be the next rerouting options one could still get to the final destination.
Here is a fresh example why one needs to have back up plans, although not related to our trip or your trip, but it is something worth mentioning because TOO MANY PEOPLE Dont have the concept.
Right now I am helping a person returning from Japan - she approached me from FlyerTalk about 10 days ago when her AA award on JL from HND to ORD was canceled by JL which then put her on NRT flight. It causes misconnect from ORD to CLT. AA of course could not make JL open an award seat. I dont even know whether AA has resumed its flight to/from Japan.
AA Singapore did reroute her ORD-LGA-CLT with an overnight layover at LGA. We tried multiple options for better connection, none work, even though ORD-CLT has a WebSaaver F seat available. But because it is a WebSaver, AA Singapore could not replace her itinerary with that seat, it must be regular Saaver. This is AA's rule. She was not able to call AA US where the agents might know a "trick" to make it happen by somehow changed the WebSaaver to Saaver. (An agent did this for me earlier this year with the first booking of this Egypt trip but that is a sheer luck of draw to find an agent willing to help and is also knowledgeable enough to try various "tricks"). Since her departure from Tokyo is August 31st, I suggested she accept the AA reroute so she can fly the NRT-ORD portion. Then she can ditch the remaining segments once she gets to ORD and clears immigration / custom. She can just buy a UA ticket from ORD to CLT or whatever. After that suggestion she told me another issue - her luggages! She has 2 checked bags, one carryon and one backpack... With the checked bags I doubt she has much levy to improve her current reroute with AA because it rules out changing departure airport from arrival airport. But since she must claim the checked bags before going thru custom, then dump the checked bags to the appropriate collection lanes, she could still be able to ditch the remaining segments with AA and make her own way to CLT using a UA pay ticket. Right now she decides to tough it out at LGA airside for the night according to the info she found on a site called Sleep in Airports.
Had she told me all the information including her amount of luggages when she first contacted me, I would immediately suggest her to explore the options on flying UA ORD-CLT on either pay or award ticket. Though the checked bags would still cost her a bundle either way, but she would not have to spend the night at LGA airside. But she waited everything else failed then told me about her luggages 3 days ago - that my friend, with labor day weekend approaching, the UA option becomes a very costly one comparing just 10 days ago.
I may also add this, personally when I book a flight I always try to book a flight that there would still be 1 or or 2 flights to the same destination AFTER the flight I booked - this is to have a better chance should the booked flight got canceled, there are still flights after that I can be put on to get to the same destination within the same day. I try as much as I can to avoid city pairs that has only one or two daily flights. Definitely avoid city pair that only has a few flights a week... Why allows the possibility of potential problems to exist? Other common senses would be to have enough time factored in on connections especially domestic to international... very very important if they are on 2 PNRs (2 tickets) or worse, 2 airlines.
